The call had been disconnected. Ellie felt like screaming. She phoned Clive and told him about the call.
“Okay, at least we know now that they’re not together.”
“If we don’t find him, she’ll have no further value to them.”
“They won’t act so quickly. They’re clearly thinking he’s prepared to pay for her. By some means or other. If they kill her, they lose their hold on him.”
“They won’t keep her forever. At some point they’ll get rid of her and find another way to make him pay.”
“But we know she’s still alive, so we can focus on him for now. Have you told Malherbe?”
Ellie looked at her watch. “I think he’s still in the air. I’ll leave a message on his phone.”
“I’ll drop by later.”
Nick’s cellphone beeped the moment he switched it on at OR Tambo Airport. It was Ellie, asking him to call her the moment he could.
“Clara called,” she came straight to the point. She repeated their conversation.
“Could you make out any sounds or voices in the background?”
“I think there was someone with her, but whoever it was was careful not to be heard.”
“Where did she get your number? Is it still the same?”
“No. She said they gave it to her.”
“Who knows your number?”
“You, Greyling, Williams, a few people in Montagu. The people I’ve given my card to in the past couple of days.”
“Can you remember who they were?”
“Clara’s mother. A few of Clara’s best friends and the two cousins she’s tight with. Williams, Reggie and Elroy.”
“Make a list. They must have got the number from one of those people. We’ll look at it as soon as I’m back.”
“Okay.”
“Did she say she’d phone again?”
“No, just that I have to help her and tell Enzio he must contact them, or they’re going to kill her.”
“So our hunch was right. She’s being used to get something from Allegretti. Try to recall the conversation and write everything down. Maybe your subconscious will recall a sound or a voice in the background. Ask De Bruin if they’ve heard anything about the BMW that’s missing from the parking garage at the club. Tell him to take a look at any available camera footage at the various exit routes from the Peninsula, starting on Sunday afternoon. I know it’s an enormous job but I want one of them to sit there, even if it takes all day.”
“What about the cameras at the airport? He wasn’t on a passenger list but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have slipped out using a false identity.”
“Send someone there as well.”
“Please keep me posted.”
She started to say goodbye, but he interrupted her. “Don’t do anything reckless.”
“What do you mean?”
“You sound upset. They’re not just going to kill her. They’ve got nothing to gain.”
“What about Williams? Should I tell him I heard from her? And Greyling?”
“If you tell one, the other one will hear about it. My feeling is, the less they know for now, the better.”
Ellie did not reply.
Nick waited for the heavy gate to swing open. He parked on the paving in front of the house. He had never been envious of anything belonging to the Allegrettis, but ever since he first saw this house, built in the early 1900s and set in a lush garden, he had always felt just slightly envious when he arrived. It was different from the Bantry Bay house, with its view over the Atlantic as far as the eye could see. It was a house where you lived on the inside. Where you could hide from the world for a few hours every day, tell yourself things weren’t as bad as they seemed. Just look around. Paradise still existed.
The front door opened as he was going up the steps. Maude Allegretti came from a conservative Afrikaans family. She was the one who had taught Enzio and Gabriella Afrikaans. She was still an attractive woman, ten years younger than her husband’s seventy-five years. Nick had often wondered what her family had thought of her choice of a partner and whether they had any idea what he was involved in. He had never had the guts to ask.
“Nick!” She held out her arms and kissed both his cheeks. “It’s been a long time.”
He had always known that one day he would have to tell the family who and what he was. He imagined it would happen in the presence of a team of advocates, an irate Enzio and a fearful father and mother. His own mother’s fears about him and his brother had never gone away or diminished, and she had been a practical person who’d never had the luxury of nurturing neuroses. This set of parents would never forgive him, for if Enzio ever had to testify in court there was a good chance he wouldn’t survive the trial. Nick had to keep reminding himself that, even now, Enzio constantly had to look over his shoulder. It was the way these people lived and they found a way to handle it.
“How is he?”
“Some days better than others. I’d hoped Gabriella would come with you. We haven’t seen her in a long time.”
“She’s helping out at the club, and I’m surprised to see what a good job she’s doing. Maybe you should have put her to work before.”
Maude laughed. “I’m not totally innocent, but her father spoilt her rotten, and he’s still doing it. I’m glad if she’s found something to keep herself busy. An idle Gabi is a difficult Gabi.”
Vincenzo Allegretti was sitting in a big easy chair in a corner of his study. On a side table next to him was his laptop, and his cellphone lay within reach. A pile of newspapers and financial magazines lay next to the computer. Behind his chair was an oxygen cylinder and a small plastic mask lay in his lap.
“Ah! To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, holding out both hands.
“If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain …”
“Speak to her. She’s worse than any carabinieri I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what my transgression was, but she and the doctor have put me under house arrest.” Though he spoke fluent English, it was still with a marked accent.
Maude clicked her tongue. “It’s for your own good. If we let you have your way, you’d gallivant in the streets until all hours.”
He motioned at the oxygen mask. “Some gallivanting I’d be doing.”
“You’ll find a way to gallivant in your grave one day,” Maude said, turning to Nick. “What can I offer you to drink?”
“Please don’t say tea or coffee. I’m dying for a stiff Scotch.”
Nick smiled. “I’ll get it. Can I get you something as well?”
Maude shook her head. “I’m organising a fundraiser. I have thousands of calls to make. Will you be sleeping over?”
“Of course he’s sleeping over.”
“I thought I’d stay at the hotel at the airport. I have an early flight back.”
“An airport hotel … don’t be ridiculous.” Vincenzo began to cough.
“You know your bed is always made. I’ll tell the kitchen you’re joining us for dinner.”
Nick smiled at Maude. “Thank you.”
When the door closed behind her, the older man looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
Nick had spent the entire flight anticipating the question and wondering what he would answer. In the end he had decided it might be best to shoot from the hip.
“Enzio has been missing since Sunday night. We have no evidence that anything has happened to him. Maybe he doesn’t want to be found, but if you know where he is, now would be a good time to tell him to make contact with me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“It seems it’s not the first time he’s done a disappearing act for a few days. Usually when things get hot.”
“But this time it’s not the same, or you wouldn’t be here.”
Nick had always had great respect for the man’s keen intellect. That was why he thought it such a pity that they would have to face each other for that conversation one day.
“Clara Veldman w
as presumably kidnapped the Friday night before. On Sunday evening Patrice was shot in his flat and since then no one knows anything about Enzio’s whereabouts.” Vincenzo was about to speak, but Nick held up his hand. “A car is missing at the club, and Patrice is believed to have been shot with a Tokarev. You can imagine my surprise when I remembered where I had seen a similar weapon.” Nick looked him in the eye, but the older man showed no reaction.
“Is Patrice dead?”
“No, but he lost a great deal of blood. He’s still in ICU. They’ve been keeping him sedated.” Nick didn’t tell him that the doctors were planning to start withdrawing the sedation slowly. He was prepared to gamble with his own life, but not with someone else’s.
“Was it my son?”
“Where’s the Tokarev?”
The older man’s eyes went to the corner of the room. “It’s supposed to be in the safe. It was a gift from a friend. Its value is more sentimental than anything else.”
“Let’s take a look if it’s still there.”
Vincenzo picked up the oxygen mask. He turned a knob on the cylinder and took a few deep breaths before he struggled to his feet. When he pressed a hidden button under a bookshelf, a cupboard door swung open. Inside was a large safe. Vincenzo keyed in a code and the door clicked open. Nick remained seated, though he would have given anything to see what else was in the safe.
A moment later Vincenzo stepped out from behind the door. He made sure that both doors of the cupboard were closed before he returned to his seat to breathe through the oxygen mask again.
“If I told you it was there, would you believe me?”
Nick slowly shook his head, and he saw the man’s eyes turn moist.
“I don’t know where my son is.”
“Do you think Maude knows?”
“If she knew, she would have told me. She’s not a lying criminal, like me.”
“I suspect someone took the girl because they want something from Enzio. Do you know of any deals he’s involved in at present?”
“You ought to know that my relationship with my son isn’t what it used to be. He doesn’t tell me everything any more.”
Nick thought he could see the older man’s shoulders sag. He had no children, neither had his father given him millions to play with or continued to do so. He had no knowledge of the dynamics in a family like this. All he saw at this moment was a father who seemed suddenly to have aged. And grown weary. There probably came a time when you had to ask yourself how you could have expected your child to turn out differently.
“It’s important for me to find him first. We don’t know who’s looking for him and why. I can’t protect him if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Have you tried the airlines and the smaller airports?”
“We tried them all. He wasn’t on any passenger list, unless he left the country with a false identity. Does he have another passport?”
“Who knows?” said Vincenzo.
“Could Ken have something to do with it?”
The oxygen mask went back on. After a while he lifted it off. “We all make mistakes, and I’ve made many, but the Visser family was one of my worst. I know nobody will believe me, but I was raised to value integrity and truth. People like Visser and his family don’t know the meaning of the word ‘integrity’. They are evil.”
“And yet you allowed your daughter to marry him,” Nick couldn’t help saying.
“Have you never made mistakes?” The old man tried to get out of his chair. “I’m going to rest for a while. We’ll talk later.”
Nick helped him to his feet, knowing that Vincenzo was going to call all his contacts. The old man pointed at the oxygen cylinder. “Don’t forget my mistress.”
Nick dragged the cylinder in one hand while supporting the old man with the other.
When Vincenzo was comfortable on the big bed with his cellphone within reach, Nick held out his hand. “I think I’ll try to get on the evening flight to Cape Town. Thanks for the chat.”
“I want my son alive.”
“Me too, sir. That’s why I need any help you can give me.”
“Tell Maude I’m not hungry. She can send me a cup of tea and a sandwich later. Tell her I’m resting and I don’t want to be disturbed.”
Nick was barely in the passage when he heard Vincenzo greet someone by name.
He found Maude in her study. She looked up when he knocked on the door.
“If you’re here, there’s trouble. Is it Gabriella?”
Nick told her what he had told her husband.
Maude sat motionless in her chair, staring straight ahead, her head held high. Only her shoulders betrayed that she had heard what Nick had said.
“He called me on Sunday morning and said he needed money urgently, but I wasn’t to tell his father. The amount he mentioned wasn’t small change, and though I have signing authority on my husband’s accounts, there was no way I could take that much money without Vincenzo picking it up. He may be ill, but there’s nothing wrong with his mind and he’s been worried about Enzio for a long time. He would definitely not have given him the money either.”
Nick nodded. He felt sorry for her. A shadow seemed to have spread across her face and her eyes had lost their sparkle.
“He was very upset when I refused. He told me I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Did you ask him what he wanted the money for?”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry.” Nick didn’t know what he was apologising for. Over the years he had thought she managed to keep the cupboard doors shut and the monsters inside. He suspected that a door had just opened and that she wouldn’t be able to close it again. All she could do was hold up her head and hope that the monsters wouldn’t devour them all.
CHAPTER 23
It was eleven thirty when Nick stopped at the Milnerton house. He was glad to see that the lights were on and Clive’s bakkie was parked outside.
Ellie and Clive were sitting at the table and Brenda was watching television. They only noticed his presence when he dropped his keys on the table.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Jozi?” Clive asked, balancing his chair on two legs.
“I knew you’d miss me too much if I stayed until tomorrow.” He took a seat at the head of the table.
“If you haven’t come with good news, you might as well have stayed.”
“His parents don’t know where Enzio is and the pistol is no longer in the safe. He called his mother on Sunday morning, asking for money.”
“Do you believe them?”
“That’s why I went. I wanted to look them in the eye when I told them their son was missing and that the old man’s firearm was probably used in a shooting. Both pieces of information were news to them.”
“Do they have any idea where their darling son may find himself?”
Nick shook his head. “The old man asked whether we’ve checked the airliners’ passenger lists, which makes me think he suspects Enzio has left the country.”
“No, fuck, not that, please! Not after all our trouble!”
“He hasn’t left the country.”
Both men looked at Ellie.
“He wouldn’t go without Clara.”
Nick was first to laugh, then Clive joined in.
“What makes you say that?”
“You were there,” she said to Nick. “You know how he battled to get her to live with him, how he spoiled her. The ring he bought her.”
“That doesn’t mean he’ll put his life in danger for her.”
“The moment they contacted him to say they had her, he started looking for money.”
“We don’t know if her disappearance and his desperate search for money are connected,” Nick replied. “We’re speculating. Maybe he wanted the money to skip the country and pay his way abroad until he’s made another plan.”
“I’m prepared to bet that he’s looking for that money to buy her freedom.”
“You never struck me as the romantic type before,” said Nick, avoiding her eyes.
Ellie nodded. “Okay. Let’s leave it. Let’s see what we’ve got so far.”
“By the way, Gabriella says Enzio asked her for three million on Sunday night as well.”
Ellie threw her hands in the air. “What did I tell you?” When no one said anything, she went through the events of the past few days.
“My feeling is that he got a call from Clara’s kidnappers on Saturday night or Sunday morning. They told him how much they wanted. When he couldn’t get hold of the money, he disappeared.”
Nick headed for the kitchen, asking over his shoulder whether anyone wanted something to drink. He switched the kettle on and started opening and closing cupboards.
“Let me,” Brenda spoke behind him.
He jumped, then turned around. “I know how to make coffee.”
“I’m sure you do, but I want some too, and I’m very particular about my coffee.”
Nick returned to the other two and began to sum up.
“Hendriks and Gaba are still at the airport, going through video footage. So far they haven’t been able to identify anyone that could be Allegretti. The BMW wasn’t picked up by any camera on Sunday night. Not at first glance, at least. It will take days to properly scrutinise all that footage. Barkov refused to help Allegretti. Mang is looking for him. Williams hasn’t heard from Clara.”
“Wait, back up – how do we know Barkov refused to help Allegretti?” Clive asked.
“A friend of Brenda’s was at Barkov’s home on Sunday night. Allegretti came there, looking for money … The cameras at Enzio’s house worry me,” said Nick. “As far as I know, it’s not easy to manipulate camera feed so that it shows an earlier recording. It’s a complicated business and I’m very sure Enzio can’t do it. If it was done, it means he’s been planning the whole thing for some time. It’s not something he could just pull off on Sunday night. Someone must have helped him. It also worries me that he may have been the one who shot Patrice. And how did he get to the club to fetch the BMW? He must have had help – or we’re on the wrong track. The alternative is that he didn’t disappear, but has also been kidnapped.”
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